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Affordable Learning Materials

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  • Affordable Learning Materials

Affordable Learning Materials

There are many strategies you can use to make your course more affordable, from adopting Open Educational Resources (OER), to utilizing textbooks available through the library, to digitizing course materials and embedding them directly into Canvas. This page will walk you through some of these cost-saving strategies and give you tips and examples to help you get started.

Don’t forget, if you’re ever unsure how to reduce course costs, your subject librarian is here to help


Need Help Getting Started?

Free-to-Use Course Materials

Use Library Resources Accordion Closed

  • Search the Quick Search for e-book titles from our collections; many allow for multiple simultaneous users so that a whole class can have unlimited access. Contact your Subject Librarian for help
  • Link to articles available through our subscriptions. Search the Quick Search or the library’s many databases for articles to use instead of a standard textbook.
  • Link to videos from one of our streaming resources
  • Search Special Collections and Archives for historic material to freely use in your course.

Adopt an E-book Accordion Closed

The University Library assigns liaison librarians to all departments on campus to provide support for teaching, learning, and research. Ask a subject specialist librarian to help you find and/or purchase an ebook with an “unlimited use” license or other digital resources for your students.


Course Reserves

Add Streaming Media to Blackboard Accordion Closed

Cline Library supports streaming video files for use in current NAU courses. Enrolled students can access material via a Kaltura link placed in your Blackboard course.

Requirements:
  • The item requested to be streamed is to be used within an NAU course
  • The item is owned by NAU Cline Library or an NAU department
  • The item is a Blue Ray, DVD, VHS, Audio cassette, CD, LP, 78 rpm record
  • The streamed media files reside in NAU Kaltura
  • Access to streaming titles will become unavailable at the end of the current semester.
  • Instructors must request streaming items for each semester, specifying titles and courses to be authorized
  • Please plan ahead and submit requests based on the date needed for a class. We receive many requests for videos and prioritize them by the “date needed by” specified on the form.
Getting Started:

Please fill out this form to make a request. Please allow a  one week processing time. For questions contact Course.Reserves@nau.edu

Digitize Portions of Books Accordion Closed

Ask the library to digitize and upload portions of your textbook to your Canvas course within Fair Use guidelines. It is generally permissible to digitize up to 10% of a textbook and make it freely accessible to your students, but when in doubt, you can always ask a librarian. You could also have existing library materials scanned and placed in your Canvas course as well. Fill out an this form to get started.

Bring Us a Copy of Your Textbook Accordion Closed

If your course requires that students purchase textbooks, especially expensive ones, it’s always a good idea to make sure a copy of those textbooks is available for short-term loan at the library. This ensures that all students have a way to access required course materials regardless of their financial situation. Visit our course materials page to learn how to place items on hold for students to check out.

Open Educational Resources

Adopt OER Accordion Closed

Browse our OER Guide

Check out our Open Educational Resources Guide, which includes sections dedicated to General Resources as well as Resources by Discipline.

Consult your Subject Librarian

For questions on getting started using or creating OER, contact your subject specialist librarian.

Create your own OER Accordion Closed

Let us help you get started!


Add Library Content into Blackboard

Linking to Articles Accordion Closed

If you’re using library materials in your research, classroom or BBlearn, we want to make sure your usage is included in our statistics. This usage is important for us to know as we make collection decisions.

Permalink?

A permalink is a web address that will consistently point to specific information source such as an ebook, an article, a record in the catalog, a video, or a database.

Why Use Permalinks?
  • We strongly recommend using permalinks instead of uploading articles, ebooks, etc. to BBlearn or file sharing because permalinks ensure that you are not in violation of copyright law.
  • Permalinks allow the library to maintain accurate usage statistics, which ensures that we continue to purchase and renew the resources you need.
  • Permalinks are a reliable means of sharing search results, and specific resources such as articles and ebooks. Copying and pasting the URL from the address field may not take you back to that original page. Permalinks ensure that the link will take you where you want to go.
Finding the Permalink

Different databases will have different ways of creating persistent or permalinks. Look for terms such as permalink, stable link, static url, etc. Below are instructions to link to some of our more common databases.

        • Ebsco: After you run a search in the database, click on the title of the article to which you want to create a persistent link. Then select the “permalink” icon from the right side toolbar.
        • JSTOR: In JSTOR, persistent links are called stable links. Click on the title of the article. Copy the STABLE URL at the bottom.
        • Nexis Uni: Click on the title of the article you want to link. Select “Actions” then link to this page.
        • Proquest: In Proquest, permalinks are called “document urls.” Locate the article then click on on the Abstract/Details tab. Scroll down to the document url field.

        If you need more help, contact your subject librarian.

Ebooks Accordion Closed

Search for the title using Quick Search. Click on the title of the text then scroll down to “View It.” Depending on the option available, follow the directions below to link directly to the e-book.

Ebscohost Ebooks
  • Click on the link for Ebscohost Ebooks Comprehensive located under “View It”
  • To create a link to the whole book, click on “Permalink” from the top tool bar
  • To create a link to a specific chapter, first select the chapter from the left menu, then click on “Permalink” from the top tool bar
Proquest Ebook Central
  • Click on the link for Ebook Central located under “View It”
  • To create a link to the whole book, click on “Share Link to Book” located under the books picture
  • To create a link to a specific chapter, first select the chapter from the left menu, then click on the link icon from the top tool bar
Elsevier ScienceDirect Ebooks
  • Click on the link for Elsevier ScienceDirect Books located under “View It”
  • To create a link to the whole book, copy the url in the browser’s address bar
  • To create a link to a specific chapter, first select the chapter then copy the url from the browser’s address bar
  • Add the NAU proxy to the front of the url. https://libproxy.nau.edu/login?url=

Streaming Media Accordion Closed

Films on Demand
  • Do a title or topic search in Films on Demand
  • Select the video you wish to embed

To embed the entire video:

  • Click “share” located beneath the video
  • Select the Embed/link tab located at the top of the pop-up

To embed a video segment Some videos have segments created. For these select the segment on the right and follow the instructions above. To create your own segment:

Click “segments” located below the video Login or create a free user account. This account is unique to Films on Demand and is not connected to Louie Set the start, end time and give the segment a title After creating a segment, go to your profile name in the upper right and select “My Content” Select the segment you want to share then select “share” from the actions dropdown on the right.
Alexander Street
  • Do a title or topic search in Alexander Street Press
  • Select the video you wish to embed
  • Click “share” located below the description

$900

average amount NAU student pays annually for textbooks

250

number of textbooks used 2020-2021 courses the library owns

63%

students surveyed skipped buying a textbook due to cost

“This is EXCELLENT! I had no idea the full text was available through the library with unlimited copies. Amazing! Thank you.”–NAU Faculty upon learning the library had their book
Cline Library
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Building 28
Cline Library
1001 S. Knoles Dr.
Flagstaff, AZ 86011-6022
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PO Box 6022
Flagstaff, AZ 86011-6022
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